Yale University researchers have identified hundreds of Ukrainian children from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions abducted by Russia since February 2022, as well as their whereabouts and deportation routes.
This is stated in a report by the Yale Humanities Research Laboratory (HRL), reported by The New York Times and Reuters.
The investigation found 314 children from Ukraine who fell into a "systematic program of forced adoption and foster care" after Russiaʼs full-scale invasion in February 2022. They were placed in at least 21 regions of Russia.
"This indicates a higher level of crime than previously assumed," the authors of the report noted.
Regions of Russia where kidnapped Ukrainian children were relocated and adopted.
Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab
The report noted that senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Childrenʼs Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, are leading a program aimed at erasing Ukrainian identity through illegal citizenship changes, forced adoptions and "re-education".
Some Ukrainian children were transferred to Russian families, others were entered into the Russian database for guardianship and adoption. Some of the children were orphans or deprived of parental care, but some had parents in the unoccupied territories of Ukraine. The report does not disclose the childrenʼs identities, but the authors of the study provided their names to the Ukrainian authorities and the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The study also found that Russia began abducting Ukrainian children from occupied Ukrainian territories days before the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022.
The Russian Aerospace Forces and aviation under the direct control of the Administration of the President of Russia transported several groups of children from Ukraine by military transport aircraft flying the flags of the Russian Federation in the period from May to October 2022. The message states that at least two groups of children flew on planes of the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation in May and October 2022.
Of the 314 identified Ukrainian children, 166 were placed directly with Russian families. The report stated that Ukrainian children who were taken to Russia were exposed to "pro-state and militarist propaganda." Such "patriotic re-education" was documented in all institutions where children were kept.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky noted that Ukraine is constantly working to return kidnapped Ukrainian children home and punish those involved in crimes.
- The deportation of Ukrainian children is one of Russiaʼs war crimes, for which the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin and the childrenʼs ombudsman of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova. At least 19 546 Ukrainian children are currently known to have been forcibly deported to Russia, less than 400 of them have been returned. Ukraine also has evidence that Belarus participates in the deportation of Ukrainian children.
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